firefly fan test

[lobelia321]

Let me test my fannishness!

There is a show called Firefly. I'm sure I've seen references to it on my Flist. If I've seen references to it on my Flist, there must surely be fanfic.

Without checking any of it, totally blind, I'm going to hazard some guesses as to popular pairings, based solely on a look at one picture.

Those in the Firefly know: could you comment?? It would be fun to see to what extent I can predict OTPs. *g*

Those in the Firefly non-know (like me): Join me and have a go yourself! Look at the pic first without seeing what I guessed, and do your own guessing. *g*





I have no clue who these people are, and that's the point of my guessing game. *g* I'm going to label them 1 to 9, from left to right.

OTP: 6/8. I think the OTP might be 6 (dude in brown leather coat, conventionally handsome, not old, no facial hair; placed in foreground of photo and thus clearly marketed as a Major Character by the powers that be) and 8 (fairy-boy with satinny coat, looks totally gay; has sticky-uppy hair and fans love boys with sticky-uppy hair; could be paired with 6 where 6 is The Man and 8 is The Boy).

Next most popular: 6/4. 6 (for same reasons as above) and 4 (pale, young, dark, with a smart parting and a waist-coat; I'm guessing he's the goody-goody meticulous one, paired with scruffy manly 6).

I'm sure that 1/6 also has a loyal following. 1 seems to me like a Ronon character: the big action-man hunk. If his character in canon has even one nuance, his popularity is probably higher than I'm estimating. Because fans find it hard to resist a manly action hunk who has a nuance. I bet he bottoms.

3 is a rare pairing. Old and has a moustache. But if it's a big fandom, he'll have a specialist following. Possibly with 4.

Femslash: Now, here my radar is less attuned. (Heh, who knows, it may be totally mis-attuned anyway; the above may all be total rubbish, *gg*) But 5/7 is possibly popular (sultry, big lips and/or lipsticky lips, long curly hair -- or is that just my taste?). 9 could also be popular (she looks delectably mousy but I bet she's hot in bed). This could be a fandom with lots or with little femslash. I note that the creator also made Buffy and doesn't Buffy have lots of femslash? In which case, this might do, too, depending on canon characterisation.

Het: Hm, is there het in this fandom? If so, I'm hazarding 6/9 or 6/5; possibly also 1/5 or 1/7.

Again, I note: Six out of nine characters are white, 5 is equivocal (I can't tell from the photo), and one of the non-white characters is old and white-haired and thus a rare pair. 7 looks like the Teyla of this fandom.



Oooh. This was fun. *rubs hands in anticipation of commentage*

I'll wait for your lovely remarks, and then I'll do some fic-searching to falsify my hunches, *g*.

Oh, I do miss having a fandom in the throes of first passion. Currently, I'm sort of coasting on edges, and SGA seems a bit fallen asleep (true?).

Comments

[crazybutsound]

6 is Mal, 4 is Simon, 9 is River and also Simon's sister, 1 is Jayne, 2 is Kaylee, 3 is a priest (I think, I'm not even 100% sure he's a priest, he might be like a pastor or something), 5 is a whore by trade and is called Inara, 7 is Zoe and she is married to 8 who is a pilot and called Wash.

In terms of more popular pairings, from what little I've seen of the fandom (and it is very little because I was NEVER able to find good enough fic for it anywhere, go figure): Mal/Simon is VERY popular. Mal/Inara is close to canon (a lot o UST on the show), I've read quite a bit of Jayne/River and Jayne/Simon. I went into it all expecting a lot of Kaylee/Mal but while I found some, I didn't find much. Kaylee/Simon is canon and around but not as popular as I would have expected. There is a lot of Simon/River incest, too. And femslash with quite a bit of Kaylee/Inara that I could find. But really, I think the most popular pairings are Mal/Simon , Jayne/Simon (with some Mal in it sometimes) and Simon/River. At least that's what I gathered from perusing recs lists, I never did join communities and such.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I have now done research and posted my findings. Hah! Thank you for all your info; it spurred me onwards and upwards. (-;

[sheldrake.livejournal.com]

Ha!

I can't really comment as I seem to be working my way through this show in the old way - remember that, where you follow the storylines and so on? ;) So I've no idea what the fandom's like really, although I will note that your number 8, is happily married to number 7, canon-wise, and the odd fic I've seen recced has usually been gen. Also, coats both satinny and leather are popular in the universe of the show, because of it being a kind of Chinese-influenced Western in space. But I await comments from people who know actual stuff.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Chinese Western in space? I'm so going to have to slash this without ever having seen it.

[trickofthedark.livejournal.com]

I bet he bottoms.

Mmm. He does now. =)

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

*laughs* What a hoot.

[sheldrake.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing he's the goody-goody meticulous one, paired with scruffy manly 6).

Oh yes, I have seen that, now I come to think of it. Simon is the polite, repressed, meticulous doctor, and Jayne is the uncouth, unreconstructed manly man - I've definitely seen this (ok I may have skimmed one or two ficlets). So you were right about that one. :)

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

You may have skimmed one or two ficlets? *hoots*

Dr/Cpt is irresistible to us fans. We are slaves to titles.

[sheldrake.livejournal.com]

My favourite Dr/Cpt will always be Who-based...

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

O god, yes.

And oh, it's Dr IX!!!!!!!! *swoons*

Is That Kiss on youtube, btw?

[sheldrake.livejournal.com]

I haven't looked, but I'm sure it must be!

[phineasjones.livejournal.com]

i think this fandom may be one of the harder ones to guess from a pic like this. because, in my experience, the most pervasive pairing in this fandom is the brother/sister (simon/river)one. even joss whedon himself has acknowledged it. also, the first OTP you guessed--6/8 (mal/wash)--isn't big at all. i think that's mainly because most of us completely adore the canon het pairing of wash and zoe (7/8).

i thought simon/jayne (4/1) was great but didn't find as much of it as i would have liked. and no, jayne's utter lack of nuance is pretty much what's nuanced about him, if you know what i'm saying.

there's a good deal of femmeslash. i think it's mainly 2/5 (kaylee/inara) and 2/9 (kaylee/river). they have some very femmeslashy moments on the show and even have inara with a female client.

but the ust also leaves room for lots of het. i've seen mal/inara and mal/kaylee and mal/river. and lots of mal/river/simon. and, of course, the river/simon. which is not usually my thing, het siblingcest, but if you watch the show, there's no way it doesn't cross your mind.

what a fun game. :)

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

*snorts* Well, I thought it would be ridiculously silly to try and guess from a pic like this and was amazed to discover how much is actually guessable! Of course, the incest thing isn't wot with the actors not looking like siblings... *g* nor is the canon het pairing. It's very interesting, though, how fanon interacts with canon. And if fans love a certain canon pairing, they are unwilling to break that up.

[phineasjones.livejournal.com]

Again, I note: Six out of nine characters are white, 5 is equivocal (I can't tell from the photo), and one of the non-white characters is old and white-haired and thus a rare pair. 7 looks like the Teyla of this fandom.

6? i get 5. the people of color being 3,5,7,9. and omg, zoe is so much cooler than teyla. sooooo much cooler. but then, this may by my bias. because this show is 40 bazillion times better than sga. and 5 is inentionally equivocal as in this future, everyone's supposed look a little bit asian. and he is the brother of 9.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Everyone's supposed to look Asian? Well, um, nobody really does... *coughs*

[mandalaya.livejournal.com]

I don't know that everyone is supposed to look Asian, but the bro/sis (4 and 9) have the surname Tam. And everyone speaks some trade Chinese.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

What a weird show. Eminently slashable, it seems.

[digdigil.livejournal.com]

This is incredible. About a year ago someone on my flist mentioned Firefly to me and asked me if I'd beta a fic she had been asked to write for one of those swap things. (She still hasn't written it.) I told her I'd never seen the show and since then it's been about midway down on my list of DVDs to rent. Then recently I read a review of the show. (Maybe some new DVDs are coming out???) Anyway, I told myself to get out and rent (or buy) the DVD ASAP.

Now I'm definitely going to do it!

And for me, the 3/6 pairing seems totally hot. Even though I have no clue about the popular ones. But older man/younger man works for me! Kind of like a Mourinho/Terry the idea of which rather turns me on.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Mourinho/Terry... *is totally sidetracked away from Firefly*

Actually, anything Mourinho works with me. Older, younger, bring it on.

My OTP, though, *sigh*, is still and 4 evah Mourinho/Wenger.

[mandalaya.livejournal.com]

Like sheldrake, I'm a non-internet-focused fan of Firefly, so it was funny to even think about slashing any of these characters, other than those that are nodded at in canon. Inara definitely swings both ways, as noted above. Really, all the women are quite slashable, come to think of it, but I never bothered since I was satisfied with the UST the show provided! Amazing!

But now that I've thought of it, I may have to check some fic and see if I like it.

I love it that you called Wash a fairy boy - he doesn't ping as his character in motion. Or hm, maybe he does, since I had a big crush on him.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

How amusing. A whole bevy of people who just watch the show, without slashy hindthoughts. What a novel concept, *gg*.

I'm the opposite, of course: zero knowledge of the show but very slashy hindthoughts! ;-p

[raincitygirl.livejournal.com]

This is hilarious. And scarily, some of it is remarkably on target.

P.S. You totally need to watch the show. Totally!

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Scarily on target? Hah!

I can see that I now have to watch this. Um, any idea where one might find an ep or two?